Dr. Dobson and Pseudo Reality
Well, I got a letter from James Dobson today. Apparently, he needs my help to "keep traditional family values in America!" All I have to do is send some money to accept his "invitation to become a charter member of Focus on the Family Action"...which I'm assuming is his Political Action Committee. He also endorses Tom Coburn for Senate over Brad Carson.

Interestingly, as a part of this letter, he states the following: "It's no secret that Oklahomans are among the most pro-life and pro-family people in the nation."

Now, being from Oklahoma, I know that there is a sense of down-home traditional values here...at least we really like to represent ourselves in such a way when it comes to discussing values and family. The funny thing is that this is not based upon reality. No matter how we think we are, the statistics show that Oklahoma ranks 2nd in divorce in the U.S.--with 2 times the divorce rate of those pesky Europeans and 3 times the rate in Japan. Just three years ago for every 100 marriage licenses issued, the state granted 76 divorce petitions. Family values? Maybe the Bible Belt should be called the Divorce Belt.

As far as pro-life values, the numbers are a little off due to Oklahoma's lack of participation in several surveys concerning abortion. However, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, "Oklahoma ranked 8th highest in the nation in teen births for females age 15 to 19. About two-thirds of the 7,415 babies born to Oklahoma teens were to those ages 18 to 19." So, we may not be participating in abortion as much as other states (although I would question whether or not that is true), we do have an issue with teen pregnancy. The teen pregnancy rate probably plays a role in our divorce rate as well, since many teenagers try to "do the honorable thing" and get married due to their pregnancy. According to a 2002 report for the Governor of Oklahoma, the experts cited a tendency of Bible Belt couples to marry young as reasons many marriages fail.

Teen pregnancy in our state also leads to these great family values:
· 70 percent of teen moms drop out of high school
· Teen moms are three times more likely to live in poverty than moms who delay childbearing until after age 20.
· Mothers who had their first child at age 17 or younger are four times more likely to be victims of physical violence than women who wait until at least age 20 to have their first child.
· Children of adolescent females are more likely to be born prematurely and 50 percent more likely to be low-birth weight babies due to inadequate prenatal and medical care.
· Daughters of adolescent females are 83 percent more likely themselves to become mothers before age 18.
· Sons of adolescent females are 2.7 times more likely to be incarcerated sometime during their life than sons of mothers who delayed childbearing until their twenties.

Sometimes I feel like the Bible Belt is like an alcoholic that won't admit its problems, so we never get better. Sorry Dr. Dobson, I don't think I want to promote the type of family values that Oklahomans represent.

posted by Jimmy at 3:49 PM | |